good morning, jon. >> reporter: good morning, george. tonight, right down on that stage, is the one and only showdown between vice president biden and paul ryan. and with the way the first presidential debate has transformed this race, the stakes are as high as they have ever been for a vice presidential debate. paul ryan may not have as much experience as joe biden, but he's done at least eight debates in previous congressional races, including this one, when he first ran for office and was just 27 years old. his opponent said he was young enough to be her son. ryan has never had a debate on a stage anywhere near as big as the one tonight. but two years ago, he did have a memorable faceoff against president obama at a bipartisan health care summit at the white house. >> i've got to tell you, the american people are engaged. and if you think they want a government takeover of health care, i would respectfully submit you're not listening to them. >> reporter: ryan spent a lot of time preparing for this, including numerous debate sessions.